Plug In Your Earphones, NASA Just Released Audio of What Martian Wind Sounds Like

Mars. The Red Planet. It’s a mystery NASA has been trying to solve for some time now. The Mars Mission has been peppered with findings that both amaze and surprise us. We now know that the surface is red because of iron minerals in the soil that oxidize/rust. Its atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon. And there is also evidence of liquid water on our neighbouring planet.

From the first close up pictures of Mars sent by NASA’s Mariner 4 in 1965 to InSight landing on the surface on November 26, 2018, the exploration has come a long way. The most recent breakthrough is the first #SoundOfMars. Have a listen.

A newbie’s guide to InSight – What is it and what does it do?

NASA designed InSight (a stationary science platform) to study tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars. It has a seismometer to detect vibrations/tremors in the planet’s deep interior during marsquakes (earthquakes on Mars).

What did we just hear? The Science explained.

This seismometer captured vibrations caused by Martian wind moving over the lander’s solar panels. There is also an air pressure sensor on the spacecraft that recorded the air vibrations directly. Changes in air pressure is what causes sound in the first place. According to scientists, these sounds are “caused by vibrations from the wind, estimated to be blowing between 10 to 15 mph (5 to 7 meters a second).”

There are 3 audio clips that we heard. First, the raw sample from the seismometer. Second, altered or raised by 2 octaves so that we could hear it better. Finally the third, audio from the air pressure sensor. This one is sped up x100 as the raw sample falls below the range of human hearing.